As most male rappers demoralized women, few neither recognized
nor respected the new age femcees in their fight for equality in the hip-hop
culture.
Ice Cube, former
member of N.W.A., rapped lyrics that denied women as equals to men.
In N.W.A.’s track “A Bitch Iz A Bitch,” Ice Cube admits the
word ‘bitch’ doesn’t apply to all women. Yet, he puts women beneath men with
such lyrics as: “But all women have a little bitch in ‘em… It makes a girl
think she’s better than me.”
One femcee that changed Ice Cube’s perception of female
rappers was Yo-Yo. Yo-Yo’s approach towards rapping was natural considering
she’d been doing it since she was 12 years-old.
But, Yo-Yo admitted to having to be strong in order to
survive in the world of hip-hop.
“Even if I wanted to be nice and smiling and soft I couldn't
do that and be a rapper," Yo-Yo said in an article written in The Los Angeles Times.
Yo-Yo went further confirming insecurity existed between male
and female rappers when she stated, "I'd seem weak, and you can't
look weak and survive--not in rap. It's a jungle--full of males. If you come
across as weak, you get cut to ribbons."
Ice Cube noticed Yo-Yo’s hard-edged masculine persona in her
delivery and decided to have her on his track entitled “It’s A Man’s World.”
The title speaks for itself. The disputed lyrics exchanged
between Ice Cube and Yo-Yo argues two ways in which women should be perceived.
Ice Cube argued for the objectified view of women stating, “Women
they're good for nothing no maybe one thing/to serve needs to my ding-a-ling.”
In response to Ice Cube, Yo-Yo denied all stereotypes and
suggested a new image stating, “No, Yo-Yo's not a hoe or a whore/and if that's
what you're here for/exit through the door.”
At the end of the song, Ice Cube asks Yo-Yo’s intentions for
becoming a rapper, in which she responds, “to prove a black woman like me can
bring the funk through.”
Ice Cube and Yo-Yo’s lyrical exchange covered both the male
and female perception of how women are viewed and treated in hip-hop.
The attitude in both Ice Cube and Yo-Yo’s delivery changes
throughout the song. In the beginning, both rappers go shot for shot, bobbing
and weaving insults and retaliating with punch lines.
What started as a rap battle of the sexes ended up becoming
more humorous than literal when Ice Cube states, “This is a man’s world thank
you very much,” in which Yo-Yo responds, “But it wouldn’t be a damn thing
without a woman’s touch.”
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